SAN JOSE — Thousands packed into a prime downtown San Jose dining and drinking hub Thursday night in a reminder the neighborhood remains lively despite the urban core’s coronavirus-linked economic maladies.
San Pedro Square was crammed Thursday night with patrons of its array of food and refreshment establishments, both inside and outside the venues in the vibrant downtown section.
Despite economic turbulence and the unsettled aftermath of government-mandated business shutdowns to combat the spread of the deadly bug, San Pedro Square has managed to do more than survive. The square has prospered.
San Pedro Square is about 95% occupied, counting restaurant, commercial and office spaces, according to Tom McEnery, the former mayor of San Jose who heads a family partnership that is the principal owner of the downtown block. A 5% vacancy rate would be the envy of just about any significant mixed-use hub.
“There’s a lot of excitement about San Pedro Square,” McEnery said. “The small businesses here, they are the ones that are keeping things going.”
The Urban Vibrancy Institute, a nonprofit, is organizing a series of downtown San Jose block parties. Prior to the San Pedro Square event, block parties occurred in Fountain Alley near South First Street and the SoFA district. Future block parties this year are planned for Paseo de San Antonio, Little Italy, and San Jose City Hall.
“This turnout is outstanding,” said Gary Dillabough, a developer and partner with San Jose-based Urban Community, a real estate firm.
Dillabough is one of the prime movers behind the launch of the block parties, which began in 2023 with an event in Fountain Alley.
“What we’re hoping to achieve here is how do you bring great people together, and provide amazing content, food and beverage,” Dillabough said. “These businesses here are almost starting to turn the corner. We’re just trying to give them a little extra push.”
The increased vibrancy in downtown San Jose has even drawn the attention of the Bay Area Council, a San Francisco-based business association.
Julian Lake, a Bay Area Council policy director for climate and energy, was among those who mingled with the throngs in San Pedro Square.
“This is incredible,” Lake said. “San Pedro Square looks fantastic. There are tons of people out enjoying the 300 days of summer that San Jose offers. We reinvented this space after the pandemic. San Pedro Square is one of the incredible heartbeats of this city. The Urban Vibrancy Institute activating this area has been fantastic.”
The robust rebound for San Pedro Square is in keeping with the hub’s ability to navigate economic rollercoasters that stretch back to 1874 when the Farmers Union Corp. was founded as a supplier to the South Bay agricultural industry as well as a general merchandise store for the region.
The merchandise store became a hardware retailer that battled through the Great Depression by selling every item imaginable for the home, garden and farm.
But in 1961, with agriculture fading away in the Santa Clara Valley, John P. McEnery decided to develop the Farmers Union Corp. properties and launch sites that eventually evolved into San Pedro Square.
Over the decades, multiple well-known businesses have operated in San Pedro Square.
These include a wine cellar operated by legendary vintner Paul Masson and a site that housed the predecessor of the San Jose Mercury News.
San Pedro Square has survived the economic downturns that have erupted from time to time over the decades following the Depression and World War II. The commercial hub weathered the stagflation of the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as recessions in 1991 and 2008.
The coronavirus outbreak of 2020 ushered in the latest calamities, some of whose side effects still plague the economy.
McEnery’s current leasing challenges consist primarily of filling an office space in the Lyndon Building at 177 through 189 West Santa Clara Street and finding a new tenant to replace the Tabard Theater at 29 North San Pedro Street.
“We have two or three tenants interested in the space,” McEnery said.
The San Pedro Square block party received 9,500 RSVPs, according to Dillabough. Both Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga, a partner with Urban Community, said it’s entirely possible 10,000 people might have visited the San Pedro Square area during the four hours of the block party and afterwards.
“We’re doing this to help the businesses,” Arrillaga said. “We want to introduce people to downtown San Jose so they know this is an active, vibrant place.”
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